ScienceDaily: Top Technology News

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• Gold nanoparticles give an edge in recycling carbon dioxide
• Reading this in a meeting? Women twice as likely as men to be offended by smartphone use
• When scaling the quantum slopes, veer for the straight path
• Polymer scientists jam nanoparticles, trapping liquids in useful shapes
• Persuading light to mix it up with matter
• Learning how to convert heat directly into power: A thermoelectric materials emulator
• Making hydrogen cheaply? Unique chemistry in hydrogen catalysts revealed
• Scientists solve mystery of odd patterns of oxygen in solar system's earliest rocks
• Ghostly shape of 'coldest place in the universe' revealed
• 100 percent of an image restored using a version containing between one and 10 percent of the information
• Sharing the power of the crowd
• Inexpensive material boosts battery capacity
• Charged up and ready to connect
• Data reaffirms test's ability to identify benign thyroid nodules
• Google search serves users from 700 percent more locations than a year ago
• Novel technique to detect fingerprints
• Getting a grip on inventory management
• Need different types of tissue? Just print them!
• Landslide sensors may save lives worldwide
• Using sound waves for remote bomb detection
• Unique chemical composition surrounding supermassive black holes

Gold nanoparticles give an edge in recycling carbon dioxide Posted: 24 Oct 2013 03:25 PM PDT It's a 21st-century alchemist's dream: turning Earth's superabundance of carbon dioxide -- a greenhouse gas -- into fuel or useful industrial chemicals. Researchers have shown gold nanoparticles can be tuned to selectively reduce CO2 into CO, an active carbon molecule that can be used to make alternative fuels and commodity chemicals. The key is maximizing the particles' long edges, which are the active sites for the reaction.

Reading this in a meeting? Women twice as likely as men to be offended by smartphone use Posted: 24 Oct 2013 03:25 PM PDT In an increasingly uncivil world, a new study is the first to provide hard evidence for how attitudes about acceptable or rude mobile phone use actually break down across gender, age and region.

When scaling the quantum slopes, veer for the straight path Posted: 24 Oct 2013 01:05 PM PDT Researchers have found that the "landscape" of quantum control -- a representation of quantum mechanics that allows the dynamics of atoms and molecules to be manipulated -- can be unexpectedly simple, which could allow for ready control of quantum operating devices at the nanoscale.

Polymer scientists jam nanoparticles, trapping liquids in useful shapes Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT Sharp observation by a doctoral student in a polymer science and engineering laboratory recently led her to discover how to kinetically trap and control one liquid within another, locking and separating them in a stable system over long periods, with the ability to tailor and manipulate the shapes and flow characteristics of each. The advance holds promise for a wide range of different applications including in drug delivery, biosensing, fluidics, photovoltaics, encapsulation and bicontinuous media for energy applications and separations media.

Persuading light to mix it up with matter Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT Scientists have documented a never-before-seen coupling of photons with electrons on the surface of an exotic crystal.

Learning how to convert heat directly into power: A thermoelectric materials emulator Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT Converting heat directly into power could be a major source of renewable energy. A novel approach to study this so called thermoelectricity may help to design new materials that are highly efficient. In an experiment with cold atoms trapped by lasers an international group of physicists precisely simulates the behavior of thermoelectric materials.

Making hydrogen cheaply? Unique chemistry in hydrogen catalysts revealed Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT Making hydrogen easily and cheaply is a dream goal for clean, sustainable energy. Bacteria have been doing exactly that for billions of years, and now chemists are revealing how they do it, and perhaps opening ways to imitate them.

Scientists solve mystery of odd patterns of oxygen in solar system's earliest rocks Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:33 AM PDT By re-creating conditions in the solar nebula, the swirl of gas that coalesced to form our star, the planets and the remnant rocky debris that circles the Sun as asteroids, the researchers demonstrated that a simple chemical reaction, governed by known physical principles, can generate silicate dust with oxygen anomalies that match those found in the oldest rocks in the solar system.

Ghostly shape of 'coldest place in the universe' revealed Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:31 AM PDT Astronomers have taken a new look at the Boomerang Nebula, the so-called "coldest place in the Universe" to learn more about its frigid properties and determine its true shape, which has an eerily ghost-like appearance.

100 percent of an image restored using a version containing between one and 10 percent of the information Posted: 24 Oct 2013 11:14 AM PDT A computer engineer has developed algorithms to reduce and optimize images; using a reduced image (with between 1 percent and 10 percent of the information from the original image), they allow 100 percent of the pixels in the initial image to be restored.

Sharing the power of the crowd Posted: 24 Oct 2013 09:13 AM PDT Over the past three years, 300,000 gamers have helped scientists with genomic research by playing Phylo, an online puzzle game. Now the developers of the game are making this crowd of players available to scientists around the globe. The idea is to put human talent to work to improve on what is already being done by computers in the field of comparative genomics.

Inexpensive material boosts battery capacity Posted: 24 Oct 2013 08:41 AM PDT Next-generation lithium-ion batteries made with iron oxide nanoparticles could extend the driving distance of electric cars.

Charged up and ready to connect Posted: 24 Oct 2013 08:41 AM PDT An innovative strategy produces positively and negatively charged polymer chains ideal for generating multifunctional coatings.

Data reaffirms test's ability to identify benign thyroid nodules Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:22 AM PDT A researcher has confirmed that a Gene Expression Classifier test can drastically reduce the problem of unnecessary surgeries in thyroid nodule assessment. These indeterminate nodules are being evaluated with a new molecular diagnostic test that measures the expression levels of 142 genes. This test is able to identify which initially indeterminate nodules are highly likely to be benign, and thus allows patients to avoid unnecessary diagnostic surgery.

Google search serves users from 700 percent more locations than a year ago Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:22 AM PDT Google search has dramatically increased the number of sites around the world from which it serves client queries.

Novel technique to detect fingerprints Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:20 AM PDT An innovative product that uses fluorescence to detect fingerprints has been developed. This new product will make it possible to highlight fingerprints directly, more rapidly and at a lower cost, avoiding the cumbersome processes required until now. The product has been successfully put through its paces by the French Police and Gendarmerie as well as by Scotland Yard and the FBI.

Getting a grip on inventory management Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:20 AM PDT More and more manufacturers are offering their products cooperatively through small retailers, as well as in web shops. Researchers have developed a new RF clip with which products can be labeled. It helps avoid duplicate sales.

Need different types of tissue? Just print them! Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:20 AM PDT What sounds like a dream of the future has already been the subject of research for a few years: simply printing out tissue and organs. Now scientists have further refined the technology and are able to produce various tissue types.

Landslide sensors may save lives worldwide Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:19 AM PDT Using technology found in cell phones, inexpensive sensors being tested might one day soon save lives by giving advance warning of deadly landslides in at-risk areas.

Using sound waves for remote bomb detection Posted: 24 Oct 2013 06:02 AM PDT A remote acoustic detection system designed to identify homemade bombs can determine the difference between those that contain low-yield and high-yield explosive.

Unique chemical composition surrounding supermassive black holes Posted: 24 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Astronomers have captured a detailed image of high density molecular gas around an active galactic nucleus harboring a supermassive black hole. The observations at the highest ever achieved reveal a unique chemical composition characterized by enhancement of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) around the black hole. An research team thought a high temperature affected by the black hole caused this peculiar chemical properties. The team expect that this unique chemical properties can be used to find black holes hidden behind dust.

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